| Match Pictures | Matches: 2002 – 2003 | 2002-2003 Pictures |
Trivia
- Guided by manager Christian Gross, ex of Tottenham Hotspur, Basel were in the Champions League qualifiers having done the double in Switzerland winning the league by a comfortable margin from Grasshoppers as well as taking the Cup 2-1 also from Grasshoppers rubbing salt into their Swiss rivals wounds.
- FC Basel reached the third round qualifier by knocking out Slovakian Champions MSK Zilina in the previous round with an aggregate score of 4-1
- Celtic entered the game having just tanned Aberdeen 4-0 and were slightly the favourites to overcome the Swiss side whose foundation was based on money from a Swiss Pharmaceutical company and familly.
- A lean closed season had seen few additions to the Celtic squad, the Board seemingly content and not ready to strengthen a squad which the previous season had dropped to the UEFA Cup from the Grouop Stage of the Champions League eventually going out to Valencia after a tense and great game at Celtic Park: David Fernandez had arrived from Livingston for £1.25 mill; Ulrik Laursen and Magnus Hedman had arrived on the last day of the transfer window, Laursen from Hibs for £1.5 mill and Hedman from Coventryt for the same price and – errrrrrrr…… that was it.
- Celtic injuries: Didier Agathe was out with a hamstring injury picked up in the first league game of the season against Dunfermiline; John Hartson, though on the bench was recovering from a knee knock.
- Henrik Larsson missed a penalty.
Review
Not a game for the late-arrivers or the early leavers!
Two goals in the first 5 minutes and an 88th minute Celtic goal meant we went into the return leg with a 2 goal cushion but they'd stolen the all important away goal which would be crucial. And the KoK's missed a penalty as well as scoring one.
Teams
Celtic:
Douglas, Mjallby, Balde, Valgaeren, Sylla, Lennon, Lambert (McNamara ,77 ), Petrov, Petta (Guppy ,56 ), Sutton, Larsson.
Subs not used:- Hedman, Hartson, Fernandez, Maloney, Crainey.
Goals:- Larsson (pen, 4), Sutton (52), Sylla (88).
Booked:- Lambert.
FC Basle:-
Zuberbuhler ,Barberis ,Murat Yakin ,Zwyssig ( Quennoz ,41 ) ,Duruz ,Ergic ( Varela ,59 ) ,Cantaluppi ,Esposito ,Hakan Yakin ,Rossi ( Tum ,67 ) ,Gimenez.
Subs not used:- Rapo, Koumantarakis, Degen, Atouba.
Goals:- Gimenez (2).
Booked:- Duruz, Cantaluppi, Varela.
Att:- 58530
Ref:- Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez (Spain).
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
One thing that is certain is that this was not a match for latecomers or, for that matter, the thousands who regularly vacate their seats some considerable time before the final whistle. Any supporters who had taken their time sauntering up London Road should have been cursing themselves for missing an enthralling opening. In an incredible series of incidents, Basel scored, Celtic equalised, and the game was barely four minutes old.
Martin O’Neill’s men began the match sluggishly and, after an early scare when Basel’s Argentinian danger man, Christian Gimenez was ruled off-side, the same player made the Hoops pay for their defensive negligence. His strike partner and fellow countryman, Julio Rossi, slipped a deft pass through the Celtic defence and, after Gimenez beat both Johan Mjallby and Rab Douglas to get his shot away, not even the frantic clearance attempt of Joos Valgaeren could prevent the ball crossing the line.
For a moment, the disbelieving Celtic support was silenced . However, they and their team soon rallied and, before another three minutes had elapsed, the scores were level. Henrik Larsson, escaping the shackles of his marker, slid a defence-splitting pass through for Stilian Petrov and, when the young Bulgarian was unceremoniously chopped to the ground by Marco Zzyssig, the Spanish referee had no alternative but to award a penalty.
Up stepped Larsson to coolly dispatch the kick low to the right of Pascal Zuberbuhler. Nevetheles, any suggestion that Celtic would go on to smother their visitors was inaccurate.
In fact, if any side looked the more likely to build on that whirlwind opening to the match, it was Basel. As the half wore on, the closest Celtic came to troubling Zuberbuhler again were speculative long-range efforts from Larsson and Petrov, both of which were off-target.
By contrast, At the other end, Celtic’s goal was coming under increasingly heavy attack. At first, the threat was relatively without menace, limited to an audacious attempt from Gregory Duruz.to chip Douglas from 40 yards. However, when the same player crossed for Gimenez to volley inches over just three minutes later, more than a few anxious murmurs were to be heard inside Celtic Park. And these murmurs very nearly turned to groans soon after when Hakan Yakin raced in on a cross from the right and acrobatically fired against the outside of the post.
That, at least, appeared to serve as something of a wake-up call to the Hoops players and, as the first half drew to a close, they wrestled back control of the match. Still, they were reduced mostly to efforts from distance but, as pressure mounted on the Basel goal, shots from Petrov and Neil Lennon did at least contain some venom.
However, goalless it remained until half-time and, after an interval in which neither side made any changes, Celtic were forced to renew their assault on the Basel goal. Chris Sutton was the first to threaten when he latched on to a Larsson flick before testing Zuberbuhler’s reflexes with a low left foot drive and, when the breakthrough arrived on 51 minutes, it was the big Englishman who provided the magic touch.
Basel clearly thought they had averted danger when their defence scrambled clear Bobby Petta’s cross, but Lennon returned the ball towards goal with force and, with the goalkeeper committed, Sutton cheekily diverted it into the net with his heel. It was a brilliantly opportunist goal from the former Chelsea man but, with some damage yet to repair in terms of the loss of that early away goal, Celtic continued to press forward.
And Larsson had a gilt-edged opportunity to increase his side’s cushion to two goals when he assumed control of yet another penalty after referee Gonzalez adjudged that Murat Yakin had been guilty of handling Momo Sylla’s cross. However, in an incident eerily similar to one which took place at Almondvale at the start of last season, Larsson struck his kick straight enough for the keeper to divert it away with his trailing leg. It was a potentially costly error from the Swede and, for a time, it appeared to represent a turning point in the match.
Indeed, Basel began once again to look extremely dangerous in attack, and twice in quick succession only the quick reactions of Douglas prevented first Carlos Valera and then Hakan Yakin putting the visitors back on level terms. It was a tense period, with both sides aware that the next goal could go a long way to deciding the tie.
For a long time, it appeared that neither side would claim that goal. But then, with the seconds ticking away, Momo Sylla popped up with a a fittingly amazing winner. Substitute Steve Guppy threw in a typically tantalising cross from the left flank and, with a graceful flick of his right boot, the versatile Guinean sent a terrific volley looping past Zuberbuhler.
It was the signal for Celtic Park to erupt in celebration and, if Celtic go on to successfully defend their two-goal lead in the St Jakob-Park, Sylla’s strike could yet be remembered as the £10 million goal.